Iran’s attack failed. Its threat to peace remains
Though largely thwarted by Israel and its allies, the assault launched by Iran against the Jewish state over the weekend was a powerful reminder that the Tehran regime remains the biggest threat to peace in the Middle East. Israel’s security would be best served now through resolve and restraint, rather than military escalation. Iranian leaders tried to portray Saturday’s attack as a proportional response to a presumed Israeli strike that killed a top Iranian commander and several advisers in Damascus, Syria, on April 1. The operation involved more than 300 drones and cruise and ballistic missiles, with Iran attacking Israel from its own territory for the first time. The assault dramatically increased the risk of a regionwide war, even if Iran hoped the matter was now “concluded.”
Florida aims to protect teens from social media addiction
Studies show that young children and social media can be a bad combination. Florida is doing something about it.
Your Views for April 17
Think about animals during disaster prep
Government incompetence is keeping kids out of college
President Joe Biden’s botched rollout of a revamped financial aid form reveals a stunning lack of managerial competence. It has left colleges unable to tell millions of students how much they’ll have to pay, causing some to delay enrolling and others to drop the idea altogether. This easily avoidable failure threatens to deprive low-income Americans of a college education. And Biden, the country’s chief executive, needs to hold to account the officials who are directly responsible.
Your Views for April 14
Utility hurts working people
Trump’s abortion talk con job
In a video address yesterday, former President Donald Trump reiterated the reality that states are currently in charge of determining abortion restrictions, a statement that was widely misinterpreted as his support for a state-based approach. That’s just how he wanted it, winking to his anti-choice supporters while muddying the waters on whether he will seek nationwide abortion restrictions that he knows are hugely unpopular.
O.J. Simpson’s legacy won’t be the one he may have imagined
O.J. Simpson will be remembered not for his athletic ability, but as a spectacle.
The hush money trial transcripts must be published
O.J. Simpson’s death reminds us that the 134 days of wall-to-wall TV coverage of his 1995 criminal trial allowed Americans to see every aspect of a celebrity case play out in a Los Angeles courtroom. Millions watched and millions of others didn’t, but the choice was theirs.
Other countries restrict breeding ‘Frankendogs.’ The US should follow suit
Lawmakers around the world are proposing legislation that would spare dogs “torture breeding” — reckless practices that intentionally produce deformities such as dangerously flattened faces or abnormally elongated spines. Germany began cracking down on torture breeding back in 1986, and a new bill would strengthen the country’s existing regulations. Austria, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland have enacted similar laws — for good reason.
OJ Simpson, race and justice. It’s the debate that won’t go away
I can’t say I’ve spent much time thinking about O.J. Simpson over the last three decades. But hearing Thursday that he died of cancer reminded me of two conversations that I’ve had about him in the last six months.
How jurors will be selected in Trump’s legal cases
Every defendant is entitled to a fair and impartial jury.
Understanding the racial divide over O.J. Simpson’s acquittal
In 1995, when O.J. Simpson was found not guilty of murdering his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, The New York Times ran dueling photos on its front page.
A just housing policy restores dignity to people experiencing homelessness
A recent report from Santa Clara County in California highlights a troubling trend: Despite housing more people than ever before in a single year, the rate of new people falling into homelessness spiked by 24% in 2023. The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 2023 homelessness assessment report shows a 12% national increase, with over 650,000 people experiencing homelessness, the highest numbers recorded since the Point-in-Time Count began in 2007.
Your Views for April 11
Taxpayers deserve a refund for rail
Why progressives keep losing the battle to tax the rich
Bring Chicago Home’s loss at the polls is the second time a progressive tax has failed in Illinois in recent years: first, a graduated marginal income tax, the unfortunately dubbed “fair tax,” and now an increase in the real estate transfer tax on buyers purchasing property of more than $1 million.
Your Views for April 10
Higher standards needed for teachers
Criminal justice reform is alive. Thank conservatives
Congress eliminated parole from the federal criminal justice system in 1984, but it didn’t completely do away with post-release supervision. About 3 of every 4 people leaving federal prison remain under supervision, often for years, and often for no good reason.
Legal marijuana is making roads deadlier
Marijuana legalization is killing a lot of people. Not slowly — though some studies suggest that it may be doing that, too — but quickly, in car crashes. It’s one more symptom of the disastrous rush by lawmakers to capitalize on cannabis sales without doing the hard work needed to keep the public safe.
Israel is making the same mistake America made in Iraq
As the war in the Gaza Strip reaches its six-month mark, I’m getting a disturbing sense of déjà vu. Israel is facing many of the same challenges that the United States faced in Iraq, and it is making many of the same mistakes.
Facebook wrecked this news outlet’s account. It’s hard to trust social media
Thursday morning, the staff of The Kansas Reflector got a jolt: Without warning or explanation, every link to their website was erased from their Facebook page. And it wasn’t only them — the same went for every other user who had shared their content.